That Seems Impossible
Not In Vain - 1 Cor 15 • Sermon • Submitted
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· 7 viewsWhile the resurrection from the dead might seem impossible to us, it is far from impossible with God.
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That Seems Impossible - 1 Cor 15:35-49
That Seems Impossible - 1 Cor 15:35-49
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. 42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
There are some things that seem so unlikely to occur that we describe it as being impossible.
Consider a three things that would have seemed impossible at one point
Lightbulbs
flight
landing on the moon
Imagine a day where these things did not exist…
Lighting up a room by flicking a switch seems impossible
but in 1879, the first lightbulb was invented
One would say, that men flying in the sky is impossible
not even 25 years after the lightbulb was invented, the first flight took place in 1903
But landing on the moon seems impossible
and yet, less than 70 years later, in 1969, man landed on the moon
Now at one point, people would have never imagined these things to be possible… Having lightbulbs in every room, people being able to fly, let alone land on the moon. And yet today, it’s difficult to imagine a world without these realities.
But here in this chapter where Paul reminds the Corinthians, and us or the reality of the resurrection… we are reminded that many would consider such a thing to be impossible
Many modern people think that any notion of a physical resurrection seems impossible.
But it’s not just modern people who think this, but even many of the Corinthians thought this as well.
In v 35, Paul anticipates the skeptic’s doubtful questions:
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
To be clear, these aren’t the questions of a person desiring to learn about the Christian faith…
These aren’t the questions of faithful Christians who believe in the doctrine of the resurrection.
These are the questions of who claim that the resurrection is impossible
Foolish questions asked by foolish people who claim to have knowledge of God.
And so Paul calls it like it is…
36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
In one sense, these are good questions, as we look forward to and anticipate the wonderful future that we have with God while we wait here in this broken world…
But these are foolish questions when they are asked with skepticism and doubt in our God’s ability to do the impossible.
But even though these are asked by fools, Paul will show us, and the Corinthians the foolishness of such questions by reminding us of God’s power that is clearly displayed in the created order today.
1) If the resurrection seems impossible, then consider the plants that come from seeds.
1) If the resurrection seems impossible, then consider the plants that come from seeds.
Now at first, this may seem like a strange way to take this conversation… but hear Paul out…
Paul describes what happens when seeds are planted…
but he doesn’t use the word “planted”, but instead uses the word “sow”
Listen to the way Paul puts it:
36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
First of all, let’s just consider where plants come from…
Paul talks about wheat coming from a kernel.
Who would have guessed that an entire stalk of wheat could come from such small seed.
Now, unless you knew what the seed looked like before hand, you would never know which plant would come from what seed.
Consider this…
Take a acorn…
Do you know what kind of plant comes from an acorn?
a tree…
But what kind of tree?
An oak tree
That oak tree looks nothing like the seed that is planted
And just the same… sunflower seeds, look nothing like sunflowers
and pumpkin seeds look nothing like pumpkins
And so on and so forth,
But this is how God works in his creation:
38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
The seed transforms into a whole new body!
But in order for it to transform, the seed must be buried… the and it must first die in oder to produce this new kind of life.
36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
Hopefully you see why Paul points us to the seed that is buried in the ground and the plant that grows from that seed when it dies. For by it we see God’s ability to raise something from the dead even in the regular order of creation as we know it today.
That seems impossible… Doesn’t it?
That a massive oak tree could come from a little acorn…
Can you make something massive, when you only have something so small?
Of course not…
With the obvious knowledge of man’s inability to make more of anything when less is given, Pharoah gave harsh commands:
7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”
Pharoah gave the Israelites an impossible task to crush under the weight of their work so that they would not leave their captivity in Egypt
But what was impossible for man, would not be impossible for God
For with God, all things are possible
God created all things (ex nihilo) out of nothing…
This is scientifically impossible, but with God, all things are possible
Manna in the wilderness
Feeding the 5000 with a few fish and loves
These seem impossible to mere men, but with God, all things are possible
So when you look at the trees in your backyard…
or the fields of flowers or any other kind of plant…
consider the small seeds that they came from.
And ponder how God is able to raise such magnificent plants from such small seeds that gets buried into the ground
What is impossible for us, is not impossible with God
So when you consider the resurrection from the dead…
yeah, it is incredible… it defies anything that we know or can comprehend.
But God gives us a demonstration of resurrection from seeds that grow into all sorts of plants so we would know that God is able to raise wonderful things from the ground even after they die. And if he can do it with a seed, then he can do the same with you and me:
37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.
The body that goes into the ground, is quite different from the body that will be raised from the ground…
Now, does that seem impossible?
Are you filled with doubt to believe that God can do such a great thing?
Don’t be a fool and so as to doubt that God can and will give you a new body in the resurrection:
2) If the resurrection seems impossible, consider the variety of bodies that already exist in creation.
2) If the resurrection seems impossible, consider the variety of bodies that already exist in creation.
Consider Genesis 1
When on first day, God formed the formless creation
Separating the day from the night
separating the sky from the water
Separated the dry land from the seas
But in the later three days of creation he inhabits the void creation with a variety of bodies.
On day four filled the empty skies with the sun, the moon and the stars
On day five he filled the empty waters and with every kind of fish, and he filled the skies with all kinds of birds
and then on the sixth day, God inhabited the empty land with every kind of animal and then finished his creation by making man in his like likeness
What am I getting at?… well as we talked about earlier, everything that is, was made out of nothing… and if that wasn’t seemingly impossible by itself, consider the creativity of God in all that he made...
Paul put it this way:
38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
Talking about the seeds, Paul reminds us not only of the incredible plants that come out of such small seeds, but Paul also points out each and every kind of seed that produces a different plant… Why does God do this?
because he can…
That’s reason enough to have confidence that God raise our bodies from the dead and give us new bodies…
God can, because he is God…
He creates all that there is out of nothing, and he does it with such splendor in the variety of all that there is. And he does it in 6 days no less…
If we doubt the possibility the resurrection of God, then we have far to small a view of God.
But it’s not just the variety in plants that God creates, but even in all the creation there is such splendid variety that we should no less be amazed!
Listen to Paul who no doubt would have had Genesis 1 in mind
39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
What’s the point of all this?
Just consider the creativity of our God…
He needs no prompt, or template in order to create....
I’ll be honest, if it weren’t for the Scriptures guiding me through each sermon, and each text, I would have nothing to say…
I get writer’s block…
How many of you know what that is?
It’s when you’re supposed to write something, and you just stare at a blank page simply because you can’t think of any words that are worth putting down.
I write all the time, and yet even still I often get writers block
Even with the Scriptures before me guiding me and providing me with plenty to say… I still often times find myself feeling unable to even speak, due to my many limitations…
But God knows no such limitations…
God in limitless in his ability to create with such variety:
Consider v 39
39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.
Can you even believe this?
God doesn’t just make one kind of flesh… but he makes all kinds…
It’d be boring if all there was were humans…
but go to the pet store and tell me that you don’t want to bring a new pet home…
but go to the zoo and be amazed at the strength of bears, and the lions, or the size the giraffes and the elephants…
Go to the aquarium and just look at how strange and amazing the octopus is… look at the dolphins… and then if only you could a see humpback whale in a tank and be flat out astounded as to the size and power of such a creature… for they are so big that we can only see them in the ocean for they are too large to keep in captivity!
but don’t just look at great creatures of the sea, but even take the smallest little fish or crab… How can they survive in the vast ocean… and how can they breath underwater?!
Are you not amazed by creation here on earth?!
Let’s be honest, even our best ideas are influenced by the ideas of others that have come before us…
But God with such simplicity creates such a variety of creatures, that we can hardly even contain the the amazement of all that God has created…
But let’s not stop with all the creative wonders that are here on earth, but just look to the sky and be astounded!
40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
A lot of us tend to think that everything in life is about us… we are quite narcissistic… we have far too great an interest in ourself… as if the world revolved around us…
But go outside and look at the sun (although don’t look directly at it… you’ll go blind) but consider the sun in wich the world revolves around…
The world doesn’t revolve around you, or me, or celebrities , or people with influence and power in politics, or any other person…
but if you think you too highly of yourself… consider this:
There are over 7.5 billion people in the world…
that’s 9 zeros with a 7 in the front…
a number that is frankly larger than most of us can wrap our mind around…
but all those people are living on this small planet that we call earth…
Take the earth and line it up 100 times and you’ll still be short of measuring the diameter of the sun
But don’t stop there,
but instead go out into the country.... away from the city lights… late at night and just look up into the sky and try to number the stars…
and know that what you can see with the bare eye doesn’t even come close to what you’ll be able to see with telescopes…
But consider all the stars… and know that our large sun is only one out out of the one billion of those stars that astronomers estimate to be in our galaxy alone...
And you are only 1 out of the 7 billion plus people living on this little blubbery called earth
Why talk about this? What does this have to do with the resurrection of the dead?
well, if the resurrection seems impossible… thinking that God is somehow limited in giving us a new body after our body sees corruption in the ground, then you fail to see just how great our God is in his power that he has already demonstrated in creation…
entire trees come from small seeds that are planted into the ground
and the variety of kinds of plants, animals, creatures, and stars should demonstrate to us just how powerful our God is…
Some will ask… how are the dead raise? Often we ask such a foolish question because think that such a thing would be impossible… But this is foolish question when you consider the power of our God.
1) If the resurrection seems impossible, then consider the plants that come from seeds.
2) If the resurrection seems impossible, consider the variety of bodies that already exist in creation.
be it here on earth, the things that fill the land, the skies and the seas… or be it the sun, the moon, and all the stars that shine in the sky
And all of it was created by God… and it was all brought into creation by the word of his mouth…
When you consider the power of God in what he does simply by speaking… it becomes inconceivable to call anything impossible for God much to doubt God’s ability to to raise the dead… such a doubt it God’s power would be foolish
But remember there were two foolish questions asked
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?”
Paul having addressed the first question by showing God’s power and creativity in the created order that exists today
now gives the second question his attention by showing us what our bodies will be like in the future…
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
3) The new bodies that God will create in the resurrection will be unlike any bodies that we can see today.
3) The new bodies that God will create in the resurrection will be unlike any bodies that we can see today.
After showing us the power of God that is displayed in the created order, Paul now shifts his focus from creation as we know it to be today, to the new creation that God will make in the resurrection.
But he returns to the familiar language of planting or sowing seeds into the ground…
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
While there are a good variety of bodies here on earth today, be it human, beast, bird, or fish… there is something that we all have in common… we all die
Paul says, this is not so of the new bodies that will be raised from the dead…
while our bodies go into the ground perishable, they will be raised imperishable…
This is something our minds cannot fully imagine… for everything in this life is perishable…
the milk that spoils in the refrigerator when it gets old…
but even mountains that seem unmovable to us eventually crumble into dust....
But this will not be so of our bodies… for in the resurrection they will be imperishable…
43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
What does Paul mean by dishonor?
Well… let’s put it this way… our bodies can be gross…
shameful....
or a disgrace…
Boys stink… especially you all as you turn into teens.... you all start to stink and there becomes a whole new part of your personal hygiene… you need to wear deodorant. why? Because your body is dishonorable…
And girls… well let me talk about girls… You look good and all, with your hair all fixed and make up on…
but if you woke up and didn’t get ready for the day, didn’t do your hair, and didn’t brush your teeth.... how many of you would happy to find out that it was picture day?
Why is this the case? Well it’s because our bodies are dishonorable… and they can be quite embarrassing if we are honest. But this is not so of our resurrected bodies!
They will be raised in glory!
Same word to describe the sun, the moon and the stars…
they are beautiful are they not? So too will our new bodies be!
The glory of God is the word that describes the sum of his goodness… so too shall we be raised like him, no longer marred by sin needing to hide behind leaves, but our new bodies will be glorious, perfect, in beauty and radiance.
But our new bodies won’t be just perfect in beauty, and without perishing… but Paul continues:
43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
Each and every one of us feels weak at times… thus we need food to replenish our strength, and we need sleep to give us energy for the day… but such limitations will not be experienced by our new resurrected bodies.
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
What does this mean? Does it mean that we will become disembodied spirits? No not at all! Instead we will have glorified bodies that are no longer under the bondage of sin and the flesh, but instead our new bodies will be sinless and perfect because they will be ruled by the Spirit of God! This is a glorious reality!
But is this too good to be true? Can we see this this new patterns established anywhere, because everything we see here and now is nothing like what Paul describing.
Well the reason we are like we are, is because we are like Adam… the first man… made of the dust, marred by sin, and therefore will return to the dust.
But... we will have these new bodies that Paul describes, because there has come a new Adam, that is Christ, who we will made like one day:
Paul puts it this way:
45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
Sure, resurrection from the dead seems impossible to us…
For we bear the image of the first Adam… therefore we will see corruption… and we will all die
But the resurrection is far from being impossible for God.
In fact, we can see hints of the resurrection in the created order here and now:
Look at the great plants that come from seeds!
Look at the many bodies that he created!
But even still, the best model we have is looking at Jesus’ resurrection. Because he has risen from the grave, we too shall be raised from the grave.
This is what those of us who have faith in Christ and have repented of our sins have to look forward to:
49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
Small Group Questions:
1) Does the resurrection seem impossible to you? Please explain.
1 Cor 15:35-36 - Many believe that the resurrection is impossible, but the notion of this is foolish especially for those who have a knowledge of God. While there is a logical argument that Paul uses to demonstrate God’s ability to raise the dead, the reality is we need God to give us the gift of faith. Paul describes such a person in 1 Cor 2:14
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
If students are filled with doubt, the best thing you can do for them is pray for them.
2) What displays of God’s resurrection power has God given us in the creation today?
While we need spiritual sight in order to believe in the resurrection, Paul gives us evidences of God’s power that are displayed in creation. There are two of them demonstrated in tonights text.
The first is the seed illustration (1 Cor 15:36-38)
Just as a seed is buried and dies before the plant grows, so too God will raise our bodies even after we die and are buried.
The second demonstration is through the variety of bodies that already exist in creation (1 Cor 15:38-41)
If God could make so many different bodies at the beginning of creation, he will surely be able to give us a new body in the resurrection.
3) While Paul demonstrates God’s resurrection power in the created order, our resurrected bodies will be quite different from anything in the created world that we know today. What are the differences between our body today, and the body that we will have at the resurrection?
1 Cor 15:42-44 lists the differences between our bodies that die and the bodies that are raised side by side.
1 Cor 15:45-49 shows why there is a difference between the body that dies and the body that is raised.
4) How does a knowledge of the gospel assure us that God will raise us from the dead?
1 Cor 15:49 - We see in this verse that we have already born the image of Adam in our natural bodies. But if we are born again, then we will also bear the image of Jesus in our resurrected bodies.